SYDNEY, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Tony
Abbott has warned Indonesia of the potential for diplomatic
fallout if Jakarta goes ahead with the looming execution of two
Australian citizens on death row for drugs charges.

Indonesia has harsh penalties for drug trafficking and
resumed executions in 2013 after a five-year gap. Five
foreigners were among six people executed last month, the first
executions since President Joko Widodo took office in October.

Australia has been pursuing an eleventh-hour campaign to
save the lives of Myuran Sukumaran, 33, and Andrew Chan, 31, two
Australian members of the so-called Bali Nine, convicted in 2005
as the ringleaders of a plot to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia.

The two will be moved this week from prison in Bali to a
maximum security prison at Nusakambangan Island in central Java,
where the execution by firing squad is expected to take place,
said Momock Bambang Samiarso, head of Bali's provincial
prosecutors' office.

The case has enormous resonance as a domestic political
issue in Australia, and Abbott ratcheted up the rhetoric at the
weekend amid a growing campaign to boycott travel to Bali, a
destination favoured by Australian tourists.

"We will be finding ways to make our displeasure felt,"
Abbott told Australia's Channel Ten on Sunday. "Millions of
Australians are feeling sickened by what might be about to
happen in Indonesia."

It was unclear what measures Abbott was considering, but
Australia and Indonesia have a long history of diplomatic
tension, which has periodically complicated cooperation on
regional issues, including people smuggling and intelligence.

Indonesia recalled its envoy and froze military and
intelligence cooperation in 2013 after reports that Canberra had
spied on top Indonesian officials, including former president
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's wife.

Full diplomatic cooperation was restored last May, but
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop last month refused to rule out
following Brazil and the Netherlands in withdrawing the
ambassador from Jakarta if the executions went ahead.

Both countries withdrew their envoys last month after two of
their citizens were among six people executed for drugs
offences.

Indonesia defended its right to use capital punishment.

"The death penalty can be given for serious crimes, and in
Indonesia, drug trafficking is a serious crime," Foreign
Minister Retno Marsudi told reporters in Jakarta.

Australia outlawed capital punishment in 1973 and public
opinion staunchly opposes the death penalty for any crime.

The last Australian executed by a foreign government was
Nguyen Tuong Van, by Singapore in 2005, also on charges of
smuggling heroin. That incident had little effect on bilateral
ties. But the execution of two Australians for drug offences in
Malaysia in 1986 saw relations plummet.

A survey by the Sydney-based Lowy Institute think tank
showed strong public disapproval of the execution, with 62
percent of the 1,211 people surveyed opposing the move.

"As the date for the executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran
Sukumaran appears to draw closer, Australian public and
political opposition is crystallising," Michael Fullilove,
executive director of the Lowy Institute, said.

In Sydney, more than 150,000 people signed a petition for
clemency. A growing boycott on social media has seen Australians
use the Twitter hashtag #BoycottBali to announce the
cancellation of holiday plans.

International pressure is also mounting, with United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon making an appeal last week.
(Additional reporting by the Jakarta bureau and a Reuters
reporter in Denpasar; Editing by Michael Perry and Clarence
Fernandez)